Blakemore Retail Support Team Shortlisted for Head Office Heroes Award

December 23, 2022

Blakemore Retail’s Operations Support team has been shortlisted for a Head Office Heroes award at the Retail Week Awards.

The Retail Week Awards celebrate brands, teams and individuals who have made a significant impact in the retail industry.

The Willenhall-based team, consisting of Caroline Wills, Katie Poole, Claudette Robotham and Ellen Concliffe, has been recognised for its work supporting Blakemore Retail’s store estate over the past year.

Having worked on-site throughout all the challenges of the pandemic, the team has continued to adapt over the past 12 months to relaunch business initiatives and strategies post-Covid-19.

The team’s main day-to-day responsibilities include maintaining store documentation and databases, handling customer complaints, producing long-service awards and creating and distributing communications to stores, central functions and public bodies.

As the world reopened following Covid-19, workload for this small team increased exponentially, resulting in a challenging act of balancing and prioritising tasks to meet deadlines. The team was responsible for organising three very successful large-scale events for the division: a charity ball to fundraise for charity partner the NSPCC, a store managers' conference and a staff fun day at Alton Towers.

Whilst working full-time, two members of the team also accomplished a BTEC Level 2 award in IT and undertook apprenticeships to develop their talents and knowledge to aid the business.

Store Operations Director Chris Bacon commented: “For some teams, the challenges of the past 12 months would have been overwhelming, but this close-knit team supported each other through the difficult moments to form an even stronger team that looks out for one another during the tough times.

“The resilience the team has shown has provided a source of stability for the field and store teams across the country.

“Team members are always going out of their way to help colleagues, and the continued smooth-running operation of the Blakemore Retail division would not be possible without them.”

The overall winner of the Head Office Heroes award will be announced on 30th March at the InterContinental 02 Hotel in London.

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